With the most-recent Galena fire just mopping up and the so-far-bone-dry spring here, what is the county thinking about the fire season? "Help!," as one Estes Park resident joked at Larimer County commissioner Tom Donnelly's monthly Estes Park meeting at the senor center on Wednesday.

The original event of fire — in just the last year, we've witnessed High Park, Woodland Heights, Fern Lake and Galena — is only the beginning, the prologue. The survivor's story follows, often as in a rolling nightmare novel, with effects that can last more than a decade.

Suzanne Bassinger, the county's recovery manager and Donnelly's guest speaker on Wednesday, explained efforts the county is making on fired-out citizens' behalves and provided information on a wealth of resources for those affected by the fires — even peripherally. Bassinger noted that neighbors who were spared the loss of their homes may suffer survivors' guilt and that there is plenty of misery to go around, outside of basic survival, but there is also help available, at many levels. The county's website on the High Park fire, larimer.org/highparkfire, provides recent survivors with an abundance of information.

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Bassinger, a civil engineer with expertise on water quality, said she watched the news of the devastating High Park fire on television, from a horse farm in Florida, before returning to her home in Colorado and applying for the county recovery manager job. She was hired in September and said this job combines her knowledge of watersheds with her interest in community service. It's inspiring to work with so many people who are so devoted to working with others, she said.

She attended a long-term recovery workshop this week with groups that included the United Way, FEMA, the Red Cross and churches. The topic was the one-year anniversary of the fires — in June — and the group talked of disbanding now.

"That's a pipe dream," Bassinger said. "It needs to go on another year, at least. This is a long-term experience."

Donnelly observed that other local governments, such as Boulder County, have been through similar devastating disasters and Larimer County officials have learned from them. So, what are the big issues the county faces now? Post-fire flooding? No, it's still fire, according to the incident commander on the Galena fire, Bassinger said.

"We're in a double-whammy because of the drought. It's so dry. It's early for fires," Bassinger said.

She expressed concern about pollution of the watershed by fires and said those effects could be long-lasting and widespread. The watershed is expected to be affected for three years, and effects could last up to 10 years. The county is working on mitigation efforts. With rain — even a little bit, increased sediment washes off. The hydrophobic soil creates a hard, plasticlike top, from which any water will run off like that collected in a parking lot. The fire-affected soil causes water to collect on the soil surface, rather than infiltrate into the ground. According to Wikipedia, wild fires generally cause soils to be hydrophobic temporarily, which increases water repellency, surface runoff and erosion in post-burn sites. Hydrophobic soils become part of the landscape when hydrocarbon residue is created after organic material is burnt and soaks into empty pore spaces in the soils, making it impervious to water.

Additionally, extreme weather events are creating peak flood flows now at about 100 times greater than before. Culverts are filling; there is nothing to contain the water; roads will wash out.

The county is collaborating with various entities, including the cities of Fort Collins, Greeley and the Forest Service, on how best to handle the potential situations. The fires have changed the landscape, and the runoffs from rains will affect everything, Bassinger said. The county is getting hay mulch on the slopes as fast as possible, so that the slopes will be covered and the soil stick there. That will help mitigate the force of the raindrops on the soil and the runoff, Bassinger said. About $500,000 has been spent on this effort.

Donnelly said that has included the county obtaining permission from private landowners in the area to spread mulch on their lands, which was a huge amount of work.

Helicopters are used to apply the mulch, in addition to manually raking and seeding the areas. Some areas are just too steep or too large to do manually. It's very labor-intensive, Bassinger said.

In addition to the mulching, the county is replacing seven culverts in Rist Canyon, off a county road. Officials expect the creek in the High Fire area will flood and clog the old metal culverts, when the huge peak flows come, and they don't want to risk the road being washed out there. It's a matter of both safety and accessibility, Bassinger said.

The county roads "belong to you, as taxpayers" Donnelly said. "They're your resource."

Now, a 10-year storm event can be expected to produce the runoff of a 100-year storm event, he added. A relatively small amount of rain can produce a tremendous runoff of soils, ash, trees and debris, If undersized culverts clog and debris blocks the road, "people may be trapped, and can't escape the flood," Donnelly said. In addition, emergency personnel would not be able to reach them.

If the road system is destroyed, the taxpayers will have to pay to fix them. Doing preventive maintenance beforehand is less expensive, he said.

Estes Park mayor Bill Pinkham said the town is looking at culverts, drainages and bridges here, to prepare for changes coming. Pinkham said he attended a climate change conference at CSU several years ago, at which he learned we can expect more significant events, in terms of early spring runoffs.

We need a slow warm-up this year, Donnelly said, with small rains, but many of them, not the large water events we're inclined to get. The county is trying to protect the road system, with its replacement of culverts. In one area, Donnelly said, involving a private road, for which the county is not responsible, but which is tangential to a county road and would block the county road if it flooded, the county partnered with neighbors in the area, who retained a private contractor who donated his efforts to rebuild a bridge there. The county didn't have to put a lot of money in, he said, but could help protect the county road system through partnership.

As for home rebuilding efforts, Bassinger said the county building department works to expedite matters. Forty homeowners are rebuilding in High Park so far. Estes Park residents have applied for permits for 13 of 22 structures destroyed in the Woodland Heights flames, with 9 burned-out Estes Park residents doing nothing yet.

Pinkham added that he's heard that one or two former residents of the burn area will not rebuild. When asked whether the footprints of the homes being constructed seem larger, Pinkham said that people are "building the homes they always wanted to have, quite grand."

Bassinger observed a different model is in use in High Park. Many residents there were "completely uninsured"; some lived in trailers that were too old to insure.

"It's heart-breaking," she said.

Through a Larimer County program, United Policyholders has provided help on the insurance front, holding six workshops for citizens, including anybody who's lost property or been or affected by fire. Many insurance companies are not taking into account what it costs to rebuild, officials said. Of 105 fire survivors surveyed in January, 25 percent said their insurance company hadn't yet settled claims, and the rest were either uninsured on structures or on contents.

Donnelly said the numbers are often hard to quantify, and assessments don't match rebuild costs. It's a cautionary tale — get your insurance policy and read and understand what it says, he added. The way we buy insurance is often unrelated to the product/need. Cost becomes the main selling point of insurance, he said, but you get what you pay for.

Pinkham observed that, for the most part, Estes Park residents have been well-taken-care-of. Donnelly said that other areas of the county, however, provide a different picture, with a lot of poverty involved. One official could not get insurance on his property again, and if you can't get insurance, you can't get a loan. Some people are simply not returning, Donnelly said.

Through the insurance workshops, the IRS even got involved and came to town. "It was the first time people celebrated the IRS," Donnelly said.

Filing taxes after a fire can be problematic, and tax attorneys and accountants also brushed up on information presented at the workshop.

The next insurance workshop will be April 22 and provide a review of where everyone is on the insurance issue. Bassinger said the one-year anniversary of the fire is a trigger point for insurance. Living expenses provided through insurance tend to expire, and most policies run out after a year, she said.

Donnelly reported that, after a year, there are only five people back in their homes in the High Park burn area. Bassinger said that, after the 4-Mile Canyon burn in Boulder, 78 building permits have been issued, and only 21 percent of the people have gone back to their homes, after 3 years.

A resident commented, "The aftermath is worse than going through the event."

The Larimer County building department officials understand that and are "bending over backwards" to help fire survivors, Bassinger said. They are allowing temporary housing in the area, including tents or RVs, with no questions asked or permit fees. Residents can retain the temporary housing for six months, if they have no place else to go and are rebuilding, she said.

Churches in the Poudre Canyon area have donated used campers and RVs to fire survivors, she said. That has allowed people to get out of the horse trailers and tents in which they were living and and into campers, she said.

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